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It was cold, but Yūrei felt no chill. It was dark, but Yūrei felt no fear. Not tonight. There were days that Yūrei felt fear. The days where she fled cities, forced out by rising suspicion from its populace. When citizens began to turn up dead in unusual numbers, in unusually brutal manners, the first place fingers tended to point were foreigners. And Yūrei had been a foreigner for the past two hundred years. She had fled too many cities in self preservation to count. But tonight, Yūrei wasn't the one fleeing. She wasn't the prey. No, tonight Yūrei was the predator.

Slinking down the alley, keeping her eyes on the prize, Yūrei followed the drunk discreetly farther into the bowels of the city. She'd spotted him leaving a bar several blocks back. He'd stumbled, and yelled at the bartender before storming off towards the city's warehouse district. He was ripe for the pickings. Drunk enough to make things quick, but coherent enough to put up a bit of a fight. Just the way Yūrei liked it. She always liked it when her meals were well marinated, and a whiskey soaked dinner was always her favorite.

The man paused to steady himself on a wall some hundred yards ahead and Yūrei stopped in the shadows. He was drunk enough to not notice her presence, but Yūrei was practiced enough to know how much distance to keep to make sure she wouldn't be observed before the right time. After a few moments, the man continued on with a liquored swagger. The way he was headed, it would only be another block or two before he was far enough into the quiet, and abandoned, district for her to make her move. For now, she would follow him through the alleys in silence. But soon, it would be her moment to strike.

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Sora had been strolling through the town, between the nooks and crannies, observing the patrons and enjoying the darkness. For the past few decades, she had refused to wear the Western clothes, and yet something had changed with this monarchy - black, high-necked, corseted dresses were the norm, and Sora found a liking to it. There was something rather inviting about the monochromatic colour palettes, the intricate laces, the pale faces of high society. If anything, it was almost as though this was the culture that she longed for.

On her travels, she saw a drunken patron stumbling into an alley, and Sora has to raise a brow. Even more so as she heard the click of a heel behind him, her eyes seeing a brief glimpse of another figure, skulking in the shadows. Was she about to stalk a stalker? Perhaps. The idea of it all was too enticing to ignore, and so she soon began to creep behind the two of them, easing herself closer to the figure - which she could now see as female - when they paused.

She stepped toward her, and then it hit her. The smell of thick, Jiang Shi blood. Sora's eyes widened. Another vampire?! In a place like this? She inhaled sharply, locking her lips as she made her move, about four metres away, before clearing her throat.

"Jiang Shi." She spoke under her breath, staring directly at the woman. All Sora could hope was that the drunken man would not sneak away with the distraction.

Yūrei froze and turned quickly towards the presence behind her. Jiang Shi Here? In London? The chances were slim, but there was no mistaking that scent. A smile curled onto her lips, half amused half territorial. She thought she'd be the only one in this area. She'd been away for so long, but the last time she'd been in London the entire city had been her hunting ground. There had been other bloodlines, but they mostly steered clear of her. Another Jiang Shi in the city. Who could have predicted.

Keeping half her attention on her prey, Yūrei sized up the newcomer. He had stumbled to another stop to relieve his bladder, giving her a few moments to deal with this interloper. Fascinating. It had been a while since she'd come across a member of her own bloodline. Not since her travels to the western coast of the United States.

"He's mine." She spoke in English and narrowed her eyes at her blood-sister. Yūrei wasn't going to lose her meal.

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Sora lifted her brow significantly at Yūrei, glancing to the apparent meal and then back to the other vampire. Apparently, she was territorial, and hungry, and not welcoming to an audience. It was understandable; Jiang Shi around here were rare, and Sora was certain that if this was becoming a popular location, there would be a big battle for superiority. For one thing she knew, if another clan started to claim areas, the Jiang Shi would be more inclined to reclaim them as a group rather than individually.

"I just ate." Sora spoke bluntly, looking back at the man. "Besides...I prefer them when they run; the blood pumps faster, harder, and warmer. This man is the struggling for a pulse as it is..." She looked back at Yūrei, smirking. "But I wouldn't mind assisting, with permission."

She flicked her hand, showing off a metal ring on her pointing finger with a long, sharp talon.

Yūrei considered the offer, still keeping half her attention on her prey. It would be beneficial, she figured, to have an ally. She'd lived nearly three hundred years without one, and hadn't failed to notice the way that other bloodlines in the area seemed to congregate to amass power bases. And while Yūrei had never killed in tandem with another before, from the look of the other vampire's talons she would be an interesting hunting partner if nothing else.

"Very well." She acquiesced. It served no purpose to turn away a potential ally, even if this meal was looking to be a standard and quick snack. And if this vampire betrayed her and took her meal from her, there were always more. London was a big city, full of many drunks. "He will be far enough away from the resident areas soon. We will wait till then." Movement from down the alley caught her eye: her meal was moving again. "We are less likely to be discovered half-way through this way." Yūrei liked it when they screamed, and she'd been stupid her first few decades. It was a lesson she learned the hard way. "And I do not like to be interrupted." She cast a sidelong glance at her new companion. No, she didn't like being interrupted at all.

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Sora lifted her chin, taking a step just behind Yūrei as not to overtake her on the hunt. She watched the drunk man from her shoulder, eyes narrowed as she watched the prey stumble around like a lost and forsaken soul. He likely had a wife at home tapped her heel with supper on the table. What a shame he wouldn't be alive to see it. Sora could only imagine what horror the wife would awaken to, as much of the city would - she could already see it now...front page of the Gazette claiming a new murderer on the rise. Little they would know...

And yet the thought still enticed her.

"You know..." She whispered. "As much as I love killing...there's something I love more; watching the world slip into chaos. This could be your dinner, of course...but why not make this a statement. There are a lot of Fleur Du Sang around here. Why not make it clear who the real predators are around here?"

It was an interesting proposal. Yūrei slowed her pursuit and glanced behind her. The Frogbloods had a greater hold on the city these days. And as much as she could use a meal, chaos was an enticing idea. She let her thoughts drift for a moment, back to Japan and the birth of Osaka no Yūrei. A sinister smile crept across her lips as she sized up her new companion. It was wrong to think of her as competition, Yūrei decided. She'd been alone for so long, it was instinct for her to see all other vampires in that light. But here, in a land where they were foreigners and could not blend into the shadows like they might be able to in their native lands, perhaps it would be beneficial to find an ally. A sister.

Straightening, Yūrei kept an eye on the man still stumbling down the dimly lit alley as she turned to her fellow Jiang Shi. "What did you have in mind."

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Sora grinned, her fangs showing as she stepped forward toward the other, eyes dark and domineering.

"There's a very posh mansion not far from here; it's suffering with a sudden burst of Japanese Knot Weed. What better way to show the public our reign than to present victims with our culture. I say we drain him, present him like a painting to the mansion, and tie knot weed around his neck like a cravat. Of course, we can get a little more creative when the time comes, but that's my initial thought..."

Cocking her head to the side, Yūrei considered the other vampire's plan. "I like your style." She decided, a slow toothy smile crawling across her pale face. "It would be a nice gift for these pompous idiots." She glanced down the alley. She could still see her dinner as he stumbled over some invisible obstacle in the darkness. "He would make a beautiful painting, I think." She could picture it in her mind's eyes: his pale face drained of blood contorted in a mask of horror, his body lying in an inhuman configuration outside the huge stone walls of the mansion. "Let's do it."

"Somewhere nice and public. Yes. I'll be sure to leave just enough blood that he makes a pretty picture." She nodded her head and slunk back into the shadows to take down her prey. She figured with ideas like this, the other vampiress would find an appropriate place to display their work of art. It was just up to her to obtain the materials necessary to make it a success. It wouldn't be too hard. Her dinner was far enough away from the residential zones by now that no one would hear his screams.